The In Crowd
by Summerrainstorm
Summary: One-shot. It's Cody's last day of high school, and through it all, he finally realizes something. Total Drama I/A/WT/ROTI didn't happen So, read if you'd like!


Cody spun away the combination of the lock on his locker for the last time this year. Around him, laughter was heard and chattering was ever so present. He quietly took books out of his locker and shoved them into his old green backpack whenever his face met his locker. He heard a loud, deep guffawing and turned to see one of the jerky 'cool' kids that liked to pick on him. The guy continued walking, him and his friends still braying like a pack of donkeys, and Cody rubbed the red mark on his forehead before he finished packing his books. He slung the bag over his shoulders and stood up, looking around at everyone.

"Say goodbye to this year!" a girl with frizzy purple hair and stalker-like personality shouted to her friend, a brunette with glasses and a tendency to snort whenever she laughed. The two cheered and triumphantly walked out of the front doors of the school. Even the dweebs had a better time at high school than he did.

He wished that he could avoid the empty and boring summer days that await him. It's not like he had any friends to hang out with, so why should he look forward to summer just like everyone else? It was so stupid and a waste of time! Not even his parents were home ever to talk to him.

He looked down the hallway at the love of his life, a beautiful goth girl, and she smiled happily at the juvinile beside her. He swore he could literally feel his heart break for what, the millionth time since the two have started dating? This sucks. He turned and walked down the hallway, past a group of 'popular' kids. He remembered always trying to fit in with them, only to be shot down (not literally, of course) and embarrassed each time.

He looked at the blonde girl standing there, smiling and talking to her best friend. He knew she loved attetnion and asked for it constantly, but did she_ really_ want it as much as she implied? He could see past her fake smile and saw how hurt she was whenever people made fun of that nerdy gamer guy, but she never stood up for him. She's a coward. He shook his head and continued walking before he passed by a blonde couple. The male was whooping and talking about how he's going to celebrate his new freedom from school by throwing an awesome party and that everyone's invited. Cody rolled his eyes and continued walking down the hallway.

He walked home, the sun beating down on his face. His sneakers slapped the pavement with every step he took. He wiped his brow and scowled down at his feet whenever he reached a crowd. He kept his head down and pushed through the group of his classmates that was clogging the corner of the street, then turned and walked a bit more before reaching his house. He pushed the door open and sighed. Empty, as usual.

He walked in and dropped his backpack carelessly against the wall, then jumped onto the couch and moved into a sitting position.

"I'm going to get used to this, aren't I?" he mumbled to himself, grabbing the remote and turning on the television. He flipped through the channels while his mind wandered.

'_I wonder what it's like to not have to worry about anything? Like Geoff, Heather, Bridgette, all of them. I wonder what it's like to have it all, to never be afraid that anything bad could possibly happen? How can all of them live so carefree, whenever I struggle to make it to school everyday? But I don't think I've ever known a time that I was part of the in crowd, so it's no wonder I can't seem to grasp how they think, is it?'_

Cody remembered a moment a few weeks ago that really hurt him.

* * *

"_Another day, another disgrace," a dark haired male laughed, his Hispanic accent thick with pleasure at the failure laying before him in the hallway. Around him, people laughed._

_Cody had fallen, or more like been tripped, and was sprawled onto the floor. He didn't want to lift his face, or even move, but he knew it'd be better if he'd just hurry through the insults and went home so he could play video games or practice on his keyboard._

_So, that's what he did. He sat silently through the insults, instead of fighting back like he usually did. Soon enough, the group of bullies decided that he was no fun and disbanded, leaving Cody to pick himself off the ground and get his things and hurry out before one of them changed their minds. He rushed home, and rubbed the new bruise on his arm, where Alejandro had kicked him whenever he was down._

* * *

Cody shuddered and looked at the show on the television, which was of a dude swimming in a pool of money.

"I wish I had that," Cody mumbled, subconsciously rubbing his arm. "Then I could take my keyboard, head out west, and make it big. No one would think that I'm a loser if I was bathing in money."

"Just think about it Cody," he said to himself, a smile forming on his face, "all of the fans, all of the cheering and photographs, paparazzi, fame… Not to mention not having to spend your days alone all of the time."

"But," Cody said and sighed, now crestfallen, "I'm stuck here. Alone on the couch, lost in my thoughts."

Cody began to think of the popular crowd from school and sighed. What did they give up to get on the inside? Their originality? Their hopes, dreams, opinions, and beliefs? They all just looked like clones to him. And whenever they do something out of the normal, they're kicked out, forgotten, and replaced. Then where do they go? Certainly not back with the popular crowd. And it came to him in an epiphany.

Maybe he didn't need to be in the popular crowd. If it meant being a bully, becoming a carbon copy of someone else, and losing brain cells, than why should he? Maybe he didn't need whatever he couldn't find in himself. It wouldn't feel right to act like anyone else, anyways. His whole life he's been trying to hang out with whoever had the best thing and most followers, but now he realized: it wasn't worth it. He was going to find a friend that didn't boss him around and try to change him, and he would finally be happy.

He was growing more and more excited with each idea that passed through his head. Why had it taken this long for him to figure it out? Was he really that dense? Oh well, who cares? He now had a mission, and he was going to accomplish it.

* * *

**Hello everyone! Here's just a one-shot that I decided to write, using the song "The In Crowd" by Mitchel Musso. (Hence the Title.) Anyways, I hope you all liked it, and if you didn't understand what characters I implied (I didn't really use many of the character names) then feel free to PM me. I only didn't mention their names because Cody's in a big high school- he's not going to know everyone's name, is he? Ah, well, review if you'd like~! Peace!**


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